Character analysis! Went through the script and made note of all the references to Ariel, and the names by which she is called. 

The only other character I have direct interaction with is Prospero. All my other interactions are indirect, where I’m either invisible to the other characters (putting Gonzalo and Alonso to sleep, playing my tabour to lure Caliban, Sebastian, and Antonio), or in a different form (nymph/harpy/goddesses). 

Prospero refers to me several times as a bird, and as a small creature - “delicate Ariel,”  “spirit too delicate,” “my bird”, “dainty Ariel”, “chick” etc. This fits well with my initial reading of Ariel as child-like, small, and young. Ariel is a spirit so essentially ageless, but I like the idea of playing her a child with bird like qualities. The image of a sparrow comes to mind. - quick movements, lots of sharp little head turns. I need to better merge the idea of the fire spirit with the bird spirit... 

Shakespeare gives us a lot of specific information about Ariel’s past. She has presumably always lived on the island. When Sycorax, a foul witch banished from Algier, was on the island she tried to make Ariel perform her evil commands. Ariel, being “a spirit too delicate” refused, and Sycorax trapped her within a tree. Sycorax died, and Ariel remained trapped in the tree for twelve years, howling and crying so that all animals could hear, until Prospero released her. Ariel then becomes Prospero’s servant, doing tasks on the promise that she will be released. 

The questions that arise for me are:

• Why did Prospero not release Ariel straight away? I presume that Prospero recognizes Ariel’s power, and needs Ariel in order to become the enlightened magus. Interestingly, it is through Ariel that Prospero gains compassion for Alonso/Gonzalo et al. and chooses forgiveness over revenge - if Ariel, a little spirit, can develop compassion, why not a “wise” being like Prospero? 
• Why do academics think Prospero is benevolent? I am utterly confused by this. If Prospero is so good, why doesn’t she release Ariel straight away? Because drama, because we need Ariel for the story... it’s a play. But still.

Is it time for rehearsal yet?! 

Now here I feel comfortable! I was always good at poetic analysis, finding rhymes, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, metaphor etc etc. This is the kind of analysis I find FUN. 

We looked at the same speech from last week, Alonso’s “O, it is monstrous, monstrous!” speech, and went through the process of analyzing the poetry. We used different colored markers for each of the elements of poetry - oh so appealing to my inner nerd! The language is rich and multilayered and delicious! The themes emerging from the analysis are nature, sound, alchemy, and knowledge v. the physical. 

We talked about finding the love of the language. The usefulness of having three oversized copies of your lines - one for scansion, one for poetic analysis, and one for train of thought. Finding the energy of the play, without getting bogged down in analysis.

Over the next three weeks we’re having workshops on language and the themes of the play. First up: scansion.  

In the rehearsal room, Denise put up butcher’s paper and a speech in oversized text, and we went through how to scan the speech. Now that I’ve engaged with the material more, it is making far more sense. 

We started discussing Denise's vision for the show. She is using ideas from the book “Prospero’s Island”, a Jungian analysis of The Tempest. The underlying theme is alchemy, where Prospero has used her time on the island to merge mind and body. In Milan, Prospero was entirely in her head, obsessed with her books and ignoring the ruling of the state, and thus is exiled. On the island, Prospero is forced to come into her body. Through her magic, intuition, and prescience, she merges the two, becoming an enlightened being or a Renaissance magis. The other characters represent various stages of alchemy, and the mind/body dichotomy - Caliban is earth/mud and body. Ariel is fire and spirit. 

Much discussion about how all of this, themes, scansion etc, will be important in rehearsal, but not stressed in performance.

Rehearsals don’t start for another month or so, but we have some homework to do in the meantime. 

1. Read a handout from “Speak the Speech”, which breaks down the Shakespearean language and shows how to approach it. 
2. Watch the RSC series Playing Shakespeare. 

We did Shakespeare in high school, and I remember enjoying it somewhat (we did Othello and Merchant of Venice), but I always felt like it was: difficult, something beyond my comprehension, not important because I’m going to be in musicals (seriously. Someone take a bat to my fifteen-year-old head). 

So Shakespeare TERRIFIES me. I think it’s because I never understood it. And we’re all scared of what we don’t understand right? Especially when it’s pretentious learning type things. 

Today I sat down to read through Speak the Speech. I think Aaron is ready to divorce me after today. I really struggled with it all. WHY IS THERE ALL THIS TERMINOLOGY?! WHO CARES? IT’S SO WANKY! JUST READ THE TEXT AND IT MAKES SENSE! (I really feel that if you read the text enough, the rhythm comes out naturally. It’s all THERE). 

I’m pleased to say that after slaving through the Speak the Speech and, surprisingly, absolutely LOVING Part 1 of Playing Shakespeare, I understand scansion! And verse! And iambic pentameter! Ten syllables with a common pattern (da dum da dum da dum da dum), and when that pattern is broken, it usually means something significant. Was that so scary?! 

I’ve also started working on my lines. Oh god. I feel like I will never get my mouth and tongue around the language. I’ll never have the words in my head. This. Is. Hard. 

I’ve been offered the role Ariel in The Tempest! WOOHOOO!! Can’t wait to get started.